Increases in Height During Adolescence

During adolescence, teenage boys and girls enter puberty with several changes that happen within their bodies. Many of these changes occur because of the production of new hormones, such as growth hormone, which is partly responsible for growth spurts and height increases. In some cases, teenagers can grow up to four inches per year or more.

Girls and Boys

• Girls usually experience the oncoming of adolescence and puberty at an earlier age than boys, beginning around age 10 or 11 and peaking around age 12. Once girls reach the age of 16, they are mostly done growing and changing. However, with boys, growth spurts typically occur between 12 and 13, peak around age 14 and end by age 19. Mini-growth spurts can take place within a year, which may lead to growing pains as teenagers' skeletons are forming into their adult bodies.

Athletics

• As teens change, they may even experience different rates of growth for each of their limbs, leading to decreased coordination and weakness. Increased clumsiness can also result from the teen's nervous system as it adjusts to the physical changes that are happening within the body, which forces the nerve endings to extend. Physical changes can also cause tendons and ligaments to become tighter as they are stretched along with the skeletal structure. As a result, teen athletes must pay more attention to stretching and proper warm-up periods before intense activities.

Internal Changes

• In addition to bones, ligaments and nerve endings growing and changing, the brain is changing as well. According to Riverdeep, new studies have shown that a teen's brain does not reach full development until the middle of her adolescent period as the fibrous system between the brain's hemispheres continues to grow. As a result, the teenage years are the optimal time to begin learning more advanced brain functions that are involved with academics, athletics or music, as those activities and functions will become more hard-wired in the brain after adolescence.

Hormones

• Hormones influencing the body's growth during adolescence include growth hormone, thyroxine, insulin, corticosteriods, leptin, calcitonin and parathyroid hormone. Growth hormone is regulated by two other hormones released by the body, growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) and somatostatin (SS). Thyroid hormones, androgens and gonadal sex steroids influence the enlargement and growth of bones. According to the University of Southern California, growth during puberty accounts for roughly 20 percent of the final adult height for an individual.